texhex
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rocks 10 - TexHex 2
Member since August 2023
Posts: 149
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Post by texhex on Aug 27, 2023 20:24:46 GMT -5
Do you use soap ( borax, Joy or Dawn ) after Pre-Polish step 3 ? The instructions say to clean the rocks well before last stage, but I do not know if that mean "soap clean".... I am not aware if the soap will negatively affect the pre-polish.
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Post by jasoninsd on Aug 27, 2023 20:39:01 GMT -5
I cab more than I tumble...so take what I say lightly! LOL
I use borax IN with my polish...then I'll add a little more water and squirt some Dawn in about an hour before I'm going to stop the final step.
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texhex
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rocks 10 - TexHex 2
Member since August 2023
Posts: 149
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Post by texhex on Aug 27, 2023 21:26:56 GMT -5
I cab more than I tumble...so take what I say lightly! LOL I use borax IN with my polish...then I'll add a little more water and squirt some Dawn in about an hour before I'm going to stop the final step. That is extremely interesting. 🤔 Y'all come up with ideas I would never even imagine.
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skmcconnell361
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since August 2023
Posts: 122
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Post by skmcconnell361 on Aug 27, 2023 21:30:46 GMT -5
I just started out and my second batch is in stage 1 second cycle. but for this batch, I am going to try using Borax for about 3+ hours in between each step. (using a rotary tumbler)
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Post by velodromed on Aug 27, 2023 21:45:09 GMT -5
Do you use soap ( borax, Joy or Dawn ) after Pre-Polish step 3 ? The instructions say to clean the rocks well before last stage, but I do not know if that mean "soap clean".... I am not aware if the soap will negatively affect the pre-polish. Yes. I normally use a vibe for stages 2-4 and the polish stage. I would follow the same process in a rotary though. I grab what ever soap is in the kitchen at the time. Usually dawn. Then drizzle a few drops and add a half-2/3rds cup of water, enough that it foams up. I do this for a couple hours after the 3rd stage (600 SiC), 4th stage (either 1200 AO or 1200 SiC) and after the polish stage (.3 micron AO). Lastly I run a burnish cycle with borax for a couple hours. It really does deepen the shine somehow and also cleans.
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dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,595
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Post by dillonf on Aug 27, 2023 21:51:18 GMT -5
Do you use soap ( borax, Joy or Dawn ) after Pre-Polish step 3 ? The instructions say to clean the rocks well before last stage, but I do not know if that mean "soap clean".... I am not aware if the soap will negatively affect the pre-polish. Many folks clean their rocks between each step by tumbling them in borax or ivory soap shavings for an hour or two. Even though I don't do this myself - I'd say it's a good practice. If you jump from 500 SC grit to polish - I'd say it is a good idea, but I feel it is less necessary if you have a 1000 grit AO/pre-polish stage. That said, even though my rocks are shiny I'm not winning any competitions.
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texhex
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rocks 10 - TexHex 2
Member since August 2023
Posts: 149
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Post by texhex on Aug 27, 2023 21:52:58 GMT -5
Do you use soap ( borax, Joy or Dawn ) after Pre-Polish step 3 ? The instructions say to clean the rocks well before last stage, but I do not know if that mean "soap clean".... I am not aware if the soap will negatively affect the pre-polish. Yes. I normally use a vibe for stages 2-4 and the polish stage. I would follow the same process in a rotary though. I grab what ever soap is in the kitchen at the time. Usually dawn. Then drizzle a few drops and add a half-2/3rds cup of water, enough that it foams up. I do this for a couple hours after the 3rd stage (600 SiC), 4th stage (either 1200 AO or 1200 SiC) and after the polish stage (.3 micron AO). Lastly I run a burnish cycle with borax for a couple hours. It really does deepen the shine somehow and also cleans. Thank you. I used Dawn after Stage 1 and Stage 2 for a 3 hour Dawn clean. After stage 3, I used Dawn, but not as long. I am definitely going to use 3 hour Dawn cleaning tumbles after every stage moving forward.
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Post by velodromed on Aug 27, 2023 22:14:08 GMT -5
Yes. I normally use a vibe for stages 2-4 and the polish stage. I would follow the same process in a rotary though. I grab what ever soap is in the kitchen at the time. Usually dawn. Then drizzle a few drops and add a half-2/3rds cup of water, enough that it foams up. I do this for a couple hours after the 3rd stage (600 SiC), 4th stage (either 1200 AO or 1200 SiC) and after the polish stage (.3 micron AO). Lastly I run a burnish cycle with borax for a couple hours. It really does deepen the shine somehow and also cleans. Thank you. I used Dawn after Stage 1 and Stage 2 for a 3 hour Dawn clean. After stage 3, I used Dawn, but not as long. I am definitely going to use 3 hour Dawn cleaning tumbles after every stage moving forward. I get a bit lazy and don’t bother with additional cleaning until after the third stage. But I like to separate rocks with defects after the lengthy course stages and run them separately, so there’s less to worry about. I also run those rocks through a sonic cleaner before the pre-polish stage.
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Post by liveoak on Aug 28, 2023 6:30:03 GMT -5
I run borax between every grit & pre-polish, usually for 24 hours. I've read it doesn't need to be that long- but that timing works for me.
I'm always impressed how dirty the water is after the borax, even though I hosed the rocks off before. Seems like it does something worth doing.
Patty
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hplcman
spending too much on rocks
Just getting into this....
Member since August 2022
Posts: 414
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Post by hplcman on Aug 28, 2023 9:59:11 GMT -5
I tumble all the way through all the stages and use borax with the grits/polishes. I feel like maybe it helps keep the grit from sticking anyplace in the rocks because the borax helps to wet everything better? I don't know... As for burnishing between stages I'll always do that between 500 AO and the AO polish. I will also do it between every stage if I'm tumbling something I want to treat delicately...
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michiganpebbler
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2023
Posts: 344
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Post by michiganpebbler on Aug 29, 2023 11:32:02 GMT -5
I’m running rotary tumblers, and use borax between the 500 and AO polish, and then after my AO polish stage. I normally run the borax for 3 or 4 hours. I’m curious, does running borax between each stage make an appreciable difference in the shine?
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Post by fernwood on Aug 29, 2023 11:37:34 GMT -5
I agree with Patty. I use a 2-3 hour Borax run between each stage and after final polish. The water is usually very dirty, even though I thought I washed the rocks well.
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